Dorothy Returns To Oz
by Sera Alexia Starr
Summary: Sequel to 1939's Wizard of Oz which takes place about 7 months after Dorothy Gale woke up.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE Just A Bad DreamDorothy Returns To Oz

By

Sera Alexia

CHAPTER ONE Just A Bad Dream

But it is real, that's just the trouble. I tried to come back for days and days. Yes, it was true at the time. All I wanted was to go home from the beginning. Funny, because I wanted to see big oceans and mountains just like Professor Marvel said I did. I dreamed of more, so much more I felt I had more than I bargained for. It was strange because as soon as I got to where I had wanted to be all I thought of was that I wanted to go home and be with the people who loved me as much as I loved all of them.

My Aunt Em told me it was all a bad dream but it couldn't have been could it? I don't see how? I admit I missed my aunt and uncle something fierce. But, when I woke up in my own bed next to her and Uncle Henry and I saw my friends again Hunk, Zeke, and Hickory I felt so much better. Even Professor Marvel came to see if I was doing well too. I felt so happy to be home again. Yes, I was home. Home is where the heart is, and there's no place like it. But, as I sit here right now I feel foolish enough to say now that I miss my friends in Oz. And so very strange I fear I do not know who my friends are anymore. Hunk looks so much like my dear lovable Scarecrow. I wonder if he still is in charge of the Emerald City? It was very nice of the humbug Wizard to let the Scarecrow rule the Land of Oz. It is such a scary thought now. Does the Scarecrow even know how to rule a magical land like Oz? I wonder. But even still, The Tin Man, who looked a great deal like Hickory must be assisting the Scarecrow as is the Cowardly Lion, it seems now that the lion isn't so cowardly anymore and he too also resembled Zeke. After the Wizard gave them what they wanted he abandoned me as he floated away in his balloon, not intentionally anyway.

It is in the past now, my very distant past. I miss my friends in Oz. Sometimes I do see the Scarecrow in Hunk, he's so clumsy! And he's funny too at times. Zeke is always messing with the chickens and pigs. He calls them hogs and makes noises so he can hear them squeal. Zeke is good with the animals. But, Hickory is Hunk's best friend. They get long best and both of them poke fun at Zeke all the time. It's typical here in Kansas. I've gotten used to it here in this gray land I live in, it's home. And my friends are a part of my family with Aunt Em and my uncle. I just wish that there was a way, a way to get into the land of Oz again. I feel like I am beginning to forget my friends there sometimes. Other times, I can remember them so vividly what I went through. Why do I put myself through this? I keep telling myself what Aunt Em told me. It was only a bad dream, only a dream. How do you dream up ruby slippers? And a good witch named Glinda? Had my house really landed on the Witch of the East? I couldn't have I woke up in my very own bed, in the exact same house. Aunt Em wants me to go see someone and talk. What about? All about my adventures in Oz? That's silly. I wish I still had my parents with me so I could figure this one out! I miss my friends very much.

I sat by the window of my bed still dreaming of everything as Aunt Em came to my bedroom doorway.

"Dorothy, it's your turn to help Zeke feed the chickens," she slightly smiled to me as I dazed out the window. Perhaps today would be the day I'd see a rainbow in the sky. Uncle Henry told me you can find a rainbow when it rains on a sunny day.

"Do I have to? Hunk will help him," I sighed not wanting to do my share of the housework.

"Hunk is having his own troubles. Look, Dorothy he's trying to put the Scarecrow on the pole outside in the cornfield."

I went to the front window and with Aunt Em laughed so terribly hard at the site. How queer, Hunk and a scarecrow. I opened the door and followed the path he paved so I could help him. Of course the Scarecrow Hunk created looked nothing like the one in Oz. But, it was funny an uncanny.

"You should stuff him with more straw in its shirt, Hunk. Then give him a hat."

"And you know this because?"

I panicked, he also knew about my crazy dream. Oz wasn't a dream it was a place. Was it? All I could see on Hunk's face was the face of the Scarecrow, my scarecrow from Oz.

"Because of the wonderful things it does!" I smiled to him.

"That rhymed," he said to me, "Here, you hold him up and I'll tie him."

I did just that as I remembered talking to my friend the Scarecrow as I helped him get off of his pole in the cornfield.

"**It's tedious being stuck up here all day long with a pole up your back!"**

"**Dear, Can't you get down?" I smiled to him. **

"**No, you see I'm, well, I'm" he stumbled on his words to me.**

"Dorothy?" Hunk brought me back to reality "You seem faraway, in Oz?"

"Stop it, Hunk. You're making fun of me. Oh I'll go help Zeke with the chickens."

When I reached the back of the house Zeke was there talking to Hickory about something I couldn't make out. I listened carefully not letting them see nor hear me.

"So, Emily is just going to bring her to a doctor? Dorothy doesn't need a doctor. She needs someone to talk to. She believes this place is so real! Zeke, we can't let her take Dorothy."

"What can we do, Hick? Maybe if we sent her message, from the beyond?"

"You mean from Oz, Zeke? She already thinks you're a lion. Lie to her? And make Dorothy feel better?"

"It was only an idea Hickory," Zeke turned to the hungry chickens "Keep your shirts on you fluffy pheasants," He said to the chickens behind him as he fed them.

No one believed in Oz more than I did, I walked back up toward the side of the road. Why was it that I was the only person who ever heard of this place. Wasn't there anyone else? Uncle Henry didn't even believe in me.

"Hey, Dorothy!" someone yelled to me. After I looked to the dirt path I watched a boy I knew from school named David wave to me, "Dorothy! You should have seen Old Mean Gulch today. She mentioned you! That wretched girl and her dog, one day they'll see my lawyer!"

"David, I don't go to school now, Aunt Em gives lessons at home. Arithmetic all day long, then English. I read books and report what I have learned from them to her. Science is a struggle, but Professor Marvel likes to come to our house and help me with that and learning agriculture now that he has gotten a more permanent place here in Topeka. I don't deal with Miss Gulch anymore." I looked to the ground to get away from the stare in his eyes, "I have to go David. I'll probably see you at the fair on Saturday."

"That's tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow then, bye David." I walked into the house and Aunt Em gave me that scolding look like she did the day she told me to find a place where there wasn't any trouble.

"I warned you Dorothy, I told you to help Zeke with those chickens!"

"It was my fault Mrs. Gale, I was a foolin' with Hick near the stables and- and it won't happen again ma'am."

I was suspicious to Zeke as he turned away to milk the cows.

"Oh hogwash, Dorothy find out what's wrong with Zeke, we can't lose another farmhand again. Losing Isaiah was bad enough! Talk to Zeke, Henry needs me in the storm cellar, winds are blowin' again. We can't afford another twister to come and take the house again!" Em ran off to her husband.

My mouth had dropped wide open, "Again! Aunt Em!" But it had been too late, my aunt had to help my uncle arrange things in the storm cellar in case another tornado swept up, yes we needed the room since we hired more farmhands to help us in the new cornfield and vegetable garden out back. Hickory helped Uncle Henry make it beautiful, almost as nice and colorful as Munchkinland used to be, almost. The colors of the red onions, and carrots, red, yellow and green peppers, potatoes and others ell entwined in the new garden Uncle Henry built. Sometimes I steal an onion and put it into my sandwich when I am hungry. Uncle Henry finally smiles at me, he never did smile much. But, since the last tornado hit the house drastically things have been different.

I walked back to the stables and noticed Zeke finally feeding the chickens.

"Can I help you, Zeke?" I offered.

"I can do it, sugar" he smiled to me with a smirk, "We're going fishin' later wanna come with Hick, Hunk and me?"

"Sure!"

"And Toto can come too, I love that mutt!" he declared.

I was reminded suddenly of my friend the Cowardly Lion and his first encounter with Toto.

"**I'll get you anyway, Pee Wee!" The lion ran, chasing my dog around a tree as the Scarecrow and Tin Man watched as I confronted him and hit his nose.**

"**Oh! Shame on you!  
**

"**What did you do that for? I didn't bite him!"**

"No, but you tried to!"

"Dorothy? Yoohoo? Are you here?" Zeke brought me back to life.

"Where did you think I was, in Oz?" Sarcastically I asked him, I'll just stay home tonight, Zeke."

**CHAPTER 2 At The Fair**

**"David, Did you see Miss Gulch?" I ran to my red headed friend who had greeted me with a smile at the fair.**

**"Yes, it seems she's angry about something."**

**I put my head down to him almost as if in shame, "I wanted to apologize to her."**

**"What for?"**

**"Because of Toto, he just ran after her cat again and tried to bite her. I wanted to apologize in person before she came to my house this time. Aunt Em already thinks dreadful thoughts about me anyway."**

**"No more dreadful than anyone else in this world, Dorothy."**

**"I know you're trying to be nice, David but" Aunt Em interrupted him by calling me.**

**"Dorothy, you stay with me now. We don't want that woman to come after you anymore. Show everyone what a wonderful girl you are." She almost smiled.**

**We were at the annual fair walking around talking to townsfolk and friends very cordially with Toto by my side. I wore my nice blue gingham dress so I could be presentable to people. It was the best one I had, and all the townsfolk talked about my dress and I behind my back as they were walking away. Everyone would talk to us and they were all very polite, we hadn't seen them in a while and they heard what had happened to our farm and me, asking if I was doing well since the tornado swept over our farm and tried to pick up our house. But as they left I saw their faces and how they would stare at me, in my dress, as if they knew something I didn't. They figured it was the same dress I had gotten hurt in when the storm hit nearly 4 months ago, I happened to be in the Topeka Newspaper in that same dress 2 days after the tornado hit us. I almost felt silly in that thing.**

**"Can't I get a new dress Aunt Em? Everyone is staring at me so."**

**"All they're thinking is how pretty you are my dear," she smiled as we walked on with Aunt Em in her small yellow cotton dress. **

**In the distance I could see a hot dog stand Zeke was standing at, he was waiting for one.**

**"Aunt Em, may I have a hot dog? Zeke is there and I won't leave his side. I promise!"**

**"Let him alone Dorothy, we'll stop later," she ignored my plea, "Don't you like the breeze, Dorothy? It's picking up nicely and you can smell the dew from last night's rainfall."**

**I tried to change the subject, "I know we don't have much money anymore Auntie. And the farmhands practically work for free, you feeding them dinner and all. But, don't we have any money so we could do something nice?"**

**"Like what sweetheart? We do try the best and do whatever we can for the farm."**

**"Maybe - a vacation?"**

**Aunt Em pressed her hand against her heart, "What I'd be able to if we could afford that!"**

**"Oh Auntie, could a cotton candy be good instead? I know how much you like them!" I smiled to her thinking of a way to distract her.**

"**We'll share it, Dorothy," she smiled back. **

**She reached her small black purse when the meanest person to ever walk this earth approached us in the middle of the fair with her arms crossed around her chest. Everyone just stared as we were abruptly stopped in front of a Balloon Exhibitionist. I was able to take my eyes off of her as I reached down to pick up my little dog Toto from harm. She reminded me so much of the Wicked Witch of the West it was ridiculous. I remembered her cackle so well.**

"**I see she's doing well since the twister," Miss Gulch looked to Aunt Em but directed her words to me, "Well, her dog came after me again, Emily. Here, at the fair of all places!"**

"**He didn't hurt you! Toto didn't do anything wrong, your cat did, Miss Gulch! And you know it," I was angry and shocked at the site of this woman.**

"**Dorothy," Aunt Em scolded me with that look again. Only that look could make me feel so guilty. Aunt Em changed the subject, "I see you're doing well Elmira," she smiled to her sweetly, "Has your ankle gotten better since that dreadful twister hit your farm too?"**

"**You already know what happened to my farm! It's gone. Nothing is left. That's as much as I can say about your house!"**

"**Now don't bring that up Elmira. Please, people in glass houses shouldn't cast stones!"**

**Miss Gulch stared at me for the longest time, "She doesn't know," Miss Gulch just stared at me "Do you Dorothy?"**

"**Know what?" I asked. **

**Aunt Em gave her a look to stop talking, and I couldn't understand why. **

"**Tell her Emily."**

**Aunt Em fretted as she told me what needed to be said, "Sweetie, I didn't think it particular to tell you. But, since the cat has already been leaked out of the bag" Aunt Em looked accusingly to Miss Gulch.**

"**Now don't go blaming this on me!" Miss Gulch interrupted, "If you don't tell her, I will"**

**Aunt Em simply blurted out what had to be said. **

"**You were declared missing for a month, Dorothy. You and our first house."**

"**First house? Aunt Em!"**

"**Now wait just a gosh darn minute Em!" Uncle Henry trotted to us from the rifle range. "What are you doing tell Dorothy what happened? We agreed - oh it's you," Uncle Henry smirked in disgust at the site of the Witch of the West look a like.**

"**But, Aunt Em, the house"**

"**Isn't your concern Dorothy," Uncle Henry interrupted.**

"**No, Henry she should know. We shouldn't be lying to Dorothy what month it is anymore."**

"**This here is your fault, Gulch!"**

"**Now don't take that tone with me!" Miss Gulch said to **

**Uncle Henry.**

"**Well, you started it, Elvira," he snarled.**

"**Elmira! And you should be lucky I'm nice to you at all!"**

"**You call standin' here insultin' my niece nice?"**

"**Henry, stop it. Dorothy, Dorothy!" Aunt Em yelled for me but it was too late I turned around and walked faster than I ever could to get away from them still holding my dog, Toto in my arms. Tears welled in my eyes as they fell down my cheeks.**

"**What's Dorothy doin' alone out there?" Hickory asked Hunk as they were trying to impress some pretty girls.**

"**We better go to her before her aunt and uncle worry!" Hunk replied.**

"**Dorothy!" they ran to me half smiling.**

"**Are you alright?" Hunk asked me.**

"**How could you? All of you deceived me! Making me believe I was wrong about what happened. Uncle Henry said I was unconscious for a few days. But, to find out I was missing? For one month? That's how long it took to build a duplicate of my aunt's house?"**

**Zeke's face was guilty as sin, "Using Old Mean Gulch's farmhands the job was better than expected."**

"**We're sorry Dorothy," Hickory tried to explain to me.**

"**It was you're uncle who told us not to mention it to you." Hunk shuffled his feet.**

"**And your aunt too. They were worried. We all were. We never thought we'd ever see you again," Hickory said.**

"**It's true then, I DID go to OZ! And you know it too!"**

"**You can't go tellin' that story to everyone. People are gonna think you're crazy," Hunk tried to warn me.**

"**Here! Here! What's all this yelling I'm hearing? Would anyone like to go up in my balloon good Gentlemen? You can see for miles here in my balloon. It's a good ride! You'll enjoy it. On this very windy day," the balloon exhibitionist laughed as the wind began to pick up even more than before as dark clouds rolled overhead.**

**My friends suddenly looked to the ground as I looked at him closely.**

"**The Wizard!" I whispered out loudly, "How did 'you' get to Kansas?" **

"**Dorothy? Oh, my dear how wonderful to see you again! How do you happen to be here? Wonderful! Wonderful! And who are these good chaps?" the once Wizard smiled from ear to ear.**

"**It's good to see you again! These are my friends Hunk, Hickory and Zeke," all 3 men waved sheepishly to him, " How did you get to Kansas?"**

"**Dear men have I seen you somewhere before?" he asked them.**

"**No, these are the farmhands that work at my aunt's house. But they do look like the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, don't they?" I smiled to him.**

"**Yes, well uh, they uh, do. Dorothy, try not to mention that in a normal civilized conversation. Will ya?" **

"**You see Hunk, the Wizard is proof I went there!"**

"**Humbug, remember I'm a humbug, not a real wizard!" **

"**Dorothy, it's Professor Marvel acting. Don't you see?" Hickory pointed out.**

"**Who is Professor Marvel? Oh, you mean my cousin from Omaha! Johnathan Marvel. He travels Kansas and state borders. Pretends to be psychic and such, but he's, uh, he's not. He too started as a Balloon Exhibitionist like me!" he adjusted his jacket to the gusty wind.**

"**You're cousin?"**

"**How dare you leave our conversation, Dorothy! I mean to talk to you about your dog, Miss Gale!" Miss Gulch approached me more rudely than before.**

**Zeke finally let her have it, "Shut up you old hag! And leave her dog alone!" **

"**I'll get my lawyer!" **

"**Do it! See if I care, you witch!"**

"**Yes, yes! She does resemble that witch from the west," the wizard said to him self aloud.**

"**Witch? That'll be the day I look like a witch you old goat!" she told off the humbug wizard. **

"**No I wasn't a goat. I was a-a wizard. And a bad one at that," he lowered his tone.**

"**Excuse me, but does anybody remember that day the tornado swept over Kansas?" Hickory asked shaking.**

**The ex-wizard spoke, "No, why?"**

**Chapter Three It's a Twister!**

"**Because there it is!" he pointed to the vicious sky.**

**There, in the sky another huge, monster like tornado rumbled through, directly heading toward us.**

"**Not again!" Miss Gulch gasped in terror.**

"**To the wagons!" people shouted.**

"**Dorothy!" Aunt Em called, "Dorothy!"**

"**Where do we go? What do we do?" Zeke panicked.**

"**It's open field! Hope we don't get caught in the twister! Help!" Hunk ran towards Aunt Em as did all of us including the Wizard and Miss Gulch.**

"**My basket!!" Miss Gulch yelled as it was sucked into the mighty winds of the tornado.**

"**Forget about you're basket, my balloon!" The wizard ran for it. **

**Hickory grabbed him, "What are you doing? You'll be killed!" **

"**It's my trademark! I have to take it down!" he broke free.**

**After loosening 3 ropes, the balloon was slowly moving toward him but was still in the path of the suction of the dynamic twister that was still getting closer to us with every moment. **

"**What shall we do?" I yelled in horror.**

"**We can't help him, we'll all be killed!" Hunk yelled over the thunder, "Dorothy run faster!"**

"**I can't leave him!" I turned around.**

"**Dorothy, Run!" Hickory yelled as he grabbed my arm.**

"**That old goat chose his fate, get into the wagon, now!" Miss Gulch demanded. **

**Dorothy couldn't leave him behind he was essential to her life. If he didn't leave in his balloon to get out of Oz Dorothy probably wouldn't have seen Glinda again and have gotten home with her ruby red shoes. She could have been stuck with him in his balloon anywhere in the world.**

"**Someone! Somebody, Help me!" he raged to the wind. I heard him scream.**

**I ran to the Wizard to try and save him and his balloon as Miss Gulch and the others stared at me in disbelief.**

"**She'll kill herself! Dorothy, you get back here this minute!" She yelled to me, "She's a damn fool!" Miss Gulch added.**

"**We gotta help, Dorothy!" Hickory panicked as he watched the heavy twister coming closer and closer to us.**

"**I ain't goin' out there!" Zeke cried in terror.**

"**Stop bein' a coward! Dorothy and her friend are in trouble!" Hunk screamed to him.**

**Hickory, Hunk and Zeke all rushed out from underneath the nailed down canvas that covered Miss Gulch's wagon.**

"**We're gonna die," Elmira said to herself. She too carefully stepped out leaving Emily and Henry inside the covered canvassed wagon.**

"**Grab, the rope!" the wizard yelled to me to be heard over the sharp, howling winds.**

**As I did I looked up to see a fierce whirlwind headed straight for me at full speed. It's dark glooming spinning put me in a trance. I hadn't seen a tornado so close since the time my aunt's house lifted me into it, going higher and higher into the darkened clouds. **

**The balloon was stuck as it continued to rock back and forth. I was sure I was to perish. I was so frightened for my life. Before me there wasn't a choice left. Either I got into the balloon and sailed away or I would be doomed for certain death in the twister's path of destruction. I watched Hunk, Zeke and Hickory tell the wizard to go back to the wagon and stay there. Miss Gulch's wagon was free from its path of destruction. I watched my friends stand by me as I helped my friend the wizard. But, it was Miss Gulch to tried to pull me back. **

"**Dorothy, we leave now!" she screamed in my ear rudely.**

**I was determined to free the wizard's balloon from damage. Hickory tried to help me untie the rope as Zeke tried to stop the balloon from moving back and forth. **

"**No! You aren't my aunt or uncle, you can't tell me what to do! Let me alone!" **

"**What are we to do? Help!" Hunk screamed, "Let's get out of here!"**

**Suddenly a change in wind drastically shook and another whirlwind unearthed from the side of the other whirlwind twisting and turning beside the first one. We watched two tornados bend down from the sky and pick up the earth beneath them practically killing and destroying life here on the prairie. All felt lost. I dragged Old Mean Gulch, as everyone called her and shoved her into the wizard's balloon as I followed in after her. When I turned around for my friends they were gone! **

"**Dorothy!" I heard. **

**An empty wagon flew around my head from the other tornado. I saw three faces staring back at me as I pulled what was left of the rope up. All at once the balloon sailed directly into the devastatingly horrid tornado. Winds continued to howl like high- pitched wolves as winds tried tipping us violently. Miss Gulch had never been in a whirlwind like this before. Last time she lost her house. The last tornado smashed her home to pieces. Miss Gulch had to stop at her cousin's house to escape the twister and go into the storm cellar. This time circumstances were different, being inside of the tornado made her fear for her life as she screamed her head off as we fell to the bottom of the balloon in panic.**

**Then I suddenly heard a voice calling for me.**

"**Dorothy?"**

"**Where are you?"**

"**Scarecrow?" I yelled back as I sat up, was it really him?**

"**Lay down! Can't you see we're gonna die? That's Hickory, Hickory! Hunk! Zeke! Help!" she screamed in terror. **

**Miss Gulch grabbed me and forced me beside her near the bottom of the basket of the balloon.**

"**Help!" she screamed again.**

**Shrieking noises took over everything else around us. Suddenly a dull yellow dusted covered brick hit Miss Gulch squarely on her head. She was out cold. As we continued to shake and rattle inside of the balloon's basket, which was inside of the twister, my hand reached for the strange object that hit my enemy. Was she my enemy? She had tried to help me. As I picked up the brick I was brought back to where I was about 4 or 5 months ago. **

'**A yellow brick?' I thought to myself. "Oz! Oh, Maybe we'll land in Oz!" I smiled at the thought, but how? We still were twisting, entwined with the wind. I found myself closing my eyes gently as I fell to sleep beside my dog, Toto.**

**When I woke up I found I was falling from the sky! **

"**OUCH!" Miss Gulch landed in a huge, green bucket of foaming hot water. **

"**Where are we?" I asked her, as I rubbed my backside.**

"**It's the Wizard's balloon!" someone yelled.**

"**He's here! The Wizard of Oz is back!" another shouted.**

"**What a world! I'm wet! And it's burning my skin!" awkwardly, yet quite funny Miss Gulch nearly bolted out of the tub drenched from head to foot.**

"**Where is the Wizard of Oz?" people shouted from outside.**

"**His balloon is here but he isn't!"**

**On the side of the bucket Miss Gulch landed in read The Wash and Brush Up Company Of Oz.**

**I forgot about how I fell from the sky and landed on my backside through the green roof onto the stuffing machine that was used to restuff the Scarecrow when I first came to the Emerald City in Oz.**

"**Look what did u do to me? Dorothy, this is your fault!"**

"**I-I'm sorry Miss Gulch. It's not my fault the tornado brought us here."**

"**The roof is broken! Maybe the Wizard fell into in Wash and Brush Up Company!" A citizen of the Emerald City exclaimed.**

"**Maybe we can get out, Miss Gulch. I can show all the places and where I went if I could only unlock this door! Oh, it won't budge."**

**I heard what sounded like keys from the other side of the door, "Mr. Wizard, sir are you - Miss Dorothy Gale!" the guard of the gate opened the locked door to quite a surprise, "How did you get here?"**

"**We fell! And I'm gonna sue you!" Miss Gulch saw red before her eyes in rage, "Why is everything so 'green'?"**

"**It's the Emerald City!" I told her as we walked out of the front of the Wash and Brush Up Company. All the citizens of the Emerald City happened to rush up to us and inquire about what happened.**

"**Did you come in the balloon?"**

"**Where is the Wizard of Oz?"**

"**Dorothy, who is this menacing person beside you?"**

"**Your friends will be outraged when they hear what has happened to the Emerald City!"**

**I was shocked first of all to be back in Oz inside of the Emerald City. At least this time I didn't kill anybody!**

"**Who are you?" Miss Gulch demanded.**

"**Miss Gulch, please I know them very well. The last time I was here they tried to help the Wizard get me back to Kansas!"**

"**Last time? Wizard? Dorothy, what's going on? I demand an explanation to why I am drenched in water, of all things. This place all so 'green.' Well, I don't like it!"**

"**Don't you dare say anything about the Emerald City! These people are my friends!" **

**Toto suddenly came barking out the front door all drenched in water too, his dark fur sagged.**

"**Oh, Toto!" I went to him "I thought the fall would have hurt you dreadfully!" **

"**I'll take him Miss Dorothy, I'll make sure he is bathed nicely and polished up to the bow that matches your dress!" **

"**Thank you!" **

"**And can I help you Ma'am?" a man asked Miss Gulch.**

"**Oh! I'll ma'am you!" Miss Gulch quipped to him.**

"**We only aim to satisfy our customers who come to the Emerald City at the Wash And Brush Up Company," a woman said to her.**

"**Well, I never! Special service to me?"**

"**Yes, let us help you. Come back inside." **

**Miss Gulch, Toto and I walked back into the Wash and Brush Up Company with the staff from the Emerald City to make the both of us look more presentable and decent.**

**CHAPTER 4 The Comeuppance of Miss Gulch**

**Over the rainbow we were, and Miss Gulch and I landed squarely in the Emerald City with Toto. We were lucky to be found at all with such a nasty storm we could have been taken anywhere. But, I can't say as much for my friends Hickory, Zeke and Hunk. At least they were fortunate enough to land in Oz at all. **

"**Hunk, Where we at?" Zeke asked as he knelt on his hands and knees. He too was covered in water, with a big green leaf on his head as he looked around at one of the most wonderful site around him. Zeke could have been doubled as the Lion himself! **

"**Zeke, are you alright?" Hickory inquired, as he lay motionless in the water beside him staring at the most wonderful sky above him.**

"**At least I'm not wet!" Hunk chuckled and told them as his body flipped into the pond from the bushes.**

**Zeke pointed, "Look at ya, you're all wet."**

"**Now, Zeke don't start that again!" Suddenly all three men looked around more curiously, full of wonder and surprise. Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood up, as their eyes grew bigger. Slowly, the men walked out of the pond.**

"**Hunk that's Dorothy's house!" Hickory stared.**

"**The first house? Wait, it's been here the whole time? Hickory, where are we?"**

"**In a place that's B-E-A-UTIFUL!" Zeke pointed out, "Guys, look at those little houses, and look, there's a path, a yellow path, maybe we should follow it! Or maybe we should follow the red one! Look at Dorothy's house. What's Dorothy's house doing in this place?" Everyone stared at the house closely, wondering how it got here the first time.**

"**Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked.**

"**We can't be?"**

"**But, we are!"**

"**Oz?" All asked each other, incredulously.**

"**Nah!" Zeke didn't believe it. **

"**We're dreaming," Hunk said to them.**

"**Hey, Hunk. I don't like my dream. I wanna dream what you're dreaming! Ha Ha!" Zeke teased in fun and wonder.**

"**Where's Dorothy?" Hickory asked.**

"**Dorothy landed in the Emerald City!" A small voice was heard, "Who are you?" **

**The three men turned around. No one was there. **

"**Who said that?" Hunk asked, still standing drenched in water next to his water logged friends.**

"**Look!" another squeaky voice was heard.**

**Above them a light, pink bubble slowly and softly fell to the ground. Then emerged a woman dressed all in light pink beautiful gown."**

"**Excuse me, this dress is suppose to be dry cleaning!" A wave of her wand and her pink dress became a light robin's egg blue.**

"**Magic!" Hickory exclaimed.**

"**I get it, we're in Oz, right?" Zeke said to the woman.**

"**Be respectful, Zeke," Hickory said to him.**

"**Who might you be?" Glinda inquired, "Are you a witch too?"**

**Hickory took off his hat, My lady I, my name is Hickory and these are my friends Zeke and Hunk," he smiled.**

"**What's a hunk?" **

"**That's what my friends call me ma'am." Hunk also took his hat off, "My real name is Henry, but my parents call me Hank. When I started working at the Gale farm my friends called me Hunk," he awkwardly smiled to her.**

**She smiled back, "I'm Glinda, the Witch of the North."**

"**You're a witch? Hunk, she's witch," Zeke repeated, "And we're in Oz!"**

**Glinda stared curiously at the 3 men. She silently nodded and smiled.**

**Hunk questioned her, "Have you seen our friend Dorothy? Do you know of her?"**

"**Dorothy Gale is at the city of emeralds which is at the end of the Yellow Brick Road! Did you bring a broomstick so you can get there?"**

**Zeke was beginning to become paranoid, "Broomstick?" he panicked, "We're gonna die. We're gonna die here in Oz! What am I saying? 'Oz'?"**

"**Yes, you have landed in Munchkinland, a distinct country within the Land of Oz."**

"**What's a Munchkin, Glinda? Can you eat it?" Hunk asked. A loud gasped was heard throughout Munchkinland. **

"**Oh, Dear no! You can't, uh, Hunk. I must say you all look very familiar. Didn't you once ask for a brain?"**

**Zeke laughed, and laughed hard he did, "Hunk's always lookin' for his brain! Ha!"**

"**You cut it out, Zeke!" Hunk turned to him with a funny face.**

"**Do you always act like this?" Glinda gave a quizzical look to them.**

"**Not all the time," Hickory looked at Zeke warningly to shut his mouth.**

"**I must say you wanted a heart, did you not?" She asked Hickory.**

"**What do you think he is? Made of tin?" Zeke laughed at his own joke.**

"**Speak for yourself," Hunk said to him.**

"**And you're the cowardly Lion, who wanted courage!" Glinda smirked and smiled to Zeke.**

**Hunk and Hickory laughed at the thought of a lion with no courage and Zeke's face where the lion's face would be. Zeke got his comeuppance.**

"**If we are in the land of the Munchkins, where are they?" Hickory asked.**

"**Hiding. You three had such a nasty fall! And look, the duckling pond is now ruined. If only we had the red ruby shoes. We wouldn't need for this mess to be cleaned up at all.**

"**We must have hit our heads harder than we thought," Hunk said, "Ruby shoes?" he inquired.**

"**They once were owned by the witch of the East. Last time Dorothy's house fell on the witch."**

"**Ouch!" Zeke said in disgust.**

"**Then Dorothy brought them to the Emerald city after a frightful adventure before she returned to her homeland of Kansas."**

"**Well, we have to get there too!" Hickory said to her.**

"**But, we have to bring Dorothy back with us. She's our friend too! And her Aunt and Uncle would have a cow if she never came back," Hunk told her.**

**Glinda thought for a moment, then spoke, "You can come out, they won't harm you! These men are friends of Dorothy, your savior!"**

"**Hail For Dorothy! The Wicked Witch of the East is Dead!" a little Munchkin girl yelled to the farmhands.**

**The Munchkin Mayor came up to the three men. **

"**Welcome to the land of the Munchkins, anyone who is a friend of our savior is a friend to us!"**

**The Coroner followed the Mayor to Glinda's lily pad, to where Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood. "We graciously invite you to stay in Munchkinland. Because the witch is no longer alive, we have our freedom to invite anyone we wish!"**

"**No, thank you. We need to find Dorothy and go back to Kansas!" Hunk said to them.**

"**You're Midgets?" Zeke asked them curiously.**

"**Little People, if you please. Most commonly known here as Munchkins," The green Munchkin from the Lollipop Guild said to them with a big smile. A crowd of Munchkins gathered bigger and bigger. **

"**It's a standing ovation!" Zeke noticed all the Munchkins coming closer before them.**

**Hickory questioned the Glinda and the Munchkins, "Please tell me, who would ask for brains, a heart and courage?"**

"**Dorothy's Gale's friends she met in Oz asked for them. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion should be following down the **

**Yellow Brick Road to get the Emerald City as we speak."**

**"All we have to do is follow the Yellow Brick Road?" Zeke pointed.**

**"The Munchkins shall see you off to the border of Munchkinland. Good Luck finding Dorothy and her friends. They may of service to you! And Follow The Yellow Brick Road." Glinda floated away in her round, pink bubble toward the sky.**

"**She's peculiar, ain't she?" Zeke asked them.**

"**Stop bein' a wiseacre, Zeke!" Hunk said to him.**

"**Maybe we should find Dorothy?" Hickory suggested, "She could be in the Emerald City?"**

"**Let's find Dorothy!" Zeke agreed.**

"**Yes!" Hunk smiled at the thought, "To Oz?" **

"**To Oz!" Hunk, Hickory and Zeke walked through the crowd of Munchkins as they smiled and waved to the citizens of Munchkinland. They followed the Yellow Brick Road directly toward the Emerald City as they waved goodbye to their new friends.**

**Back in the Emerald City there was slight chaos. The Quadling Cleaners had to come and fix the damage Miss Gulch and I had caused to the Emerald City. I felt so guilty to my friends of the Emerald City after what had happened. Still, I wonder how I got here again after everything that has lead up to this moment. Yes, I had longed to come back and see my friends the Scarecrow and Tin Man, and yes my dear friend the Cowardly Lion. I missed them so. **

**After speaking to the guard who had stood before the throne room I learned that my friends had gone on a trip to Munchkinland to commemorate the deaths of the Wicked Witches of the East and West in honor of me, Dorothy Gale. Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, who isn't so cowardly anymore, had honored me as savior of Oz in Munchkinland. Any day soon they would be back to the Emerald City and continue to reign over Oz.**

**Miss Gulch however, believes in none of this tomfoolery. She says she will wake up in her own bed beside her cousin in Kansas very soon! And she totally hates the color green. "It's the color of grass," she explained to the citizens. Before sunset she had looked out over to the open window near the front of the Emerald City. Softly she began to yawn and close her eyes. **

"**Miss Gulch what are you doing? Stay away from the window!" I yelled to her.**

"**Why?" she asked so rudely back to me.**

"**Because of the smell of the poppies! You will fall to sleep and never wake up like I have the last I was here with my friends."**

"**Dorothy, the day I believe you were here will be the day I eat liver!"**

"**David told me you liked liver!"**

"**David who? Oh, that boy again. Well, you'll never see him, or your aunt and uncle again. And I'll never see Gladys. Sweet cousin, Gladys!" she smiled. I was shocked at the site of Miss Gulch with a smile on her face for once. **

"**What's that?" She pointed out the window in shock.**

"**Why it's a flying monkey! They belonged to the witch of the west. But, after I melted her with a bucket of water they went free. I guess that fly all over Oz now."**

" **A monkey that flies? Do you honestly think I'm going to believe that story?"**

"**You have to it's the truth! Why don't you ever believe me, Miss Gulch? I've been here before. And these clothes they gave us, don't you see? We're here in Oz! It's real! And it's green too," I teased her.**

"**How I loathe this color! It' distasteful! It's horrible! It"**

"**Looks good on you" I said to her.**

"**Ewww!" She screamed to me as she walked away toward a guard, "Can I use your phone?"**

"**Phone?"**

"**Yes, a machine to call my cousin! And get me out of here!"**

"**We do not have phones in Oz madam" Miss Gulch pursed her lips. "How do we get out of here?" she croaked.**

"**We could sail away," I said, as I looked out the window myself as I yawned and thought to myself.**

"**Well, we're not using that balloon again, I can assure you of that!" **

"**Last time I used my ruby red shoes. I clicked them three times and said there's no place like home! Then I woke up at home!"**

"**You were missing Dorothy. Missing for good month at that! If it weren't for me you'd still be"**

**Miss Gulch turned toward the door and stopped talking.  
**

**I sat upright, "Still be where?"**

**Miss Gulch stared at me hard, "You'd still be thrown near the**

**Remains of my old house, near the river. Lord knows how you got there!"**

"**You saved me?"**

"**Well, I wasn't gonna let you die. I'd punish you before I'd let that happen to you!"**

"**Why you **_**do**_** like me!"**

"**Don't let it go to your head, we still have to find a way how to get out of here!" Miss Gulch looked out again out of the window of the palace of the Emerald City. "Is that a **_**yellow**_** road?" **

"**It's the Yellow Brick Road madam," a citizen of Oz said to her. "It will lead you all the way to Munchkinland."**

"**What's a Munchkin? Can ya eat it?"**

"**Certainly not!" **

"**Miss Gulch listen to me again, I landed in Munchkinland once before when I landed on the Witch of the East whose ruby red shoes I had used to go home!" **

**Miss Gulch only rolled her eyes.**

**I went over to the guard of the gate to the throne room. "How can I find a way to get back to Kansas? I don't have the shoes like before?"**

**Suddenly from up above the open sky light in the Emerald City dropped down a light pink ray, which looked like Glinda the Good Witch's bubble. Slowly it reached the ground and Glinda emerged from it.**

"**Glinda! It's you! Oh, Can you help me find my friends and get me back to Kansas? This is a friend of mine from Kansas too."**

"**There are other friends Dorothy." She said to me, smiling as I remembered the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. However she was thinking of Hunk, Hickory and Zeke whom she had just seen.**

"**I know, I would like to see them again if I could, Glinda."**

"**Certainly," with a waved slowly from her wand she cast a spell. Instantly Hunk, Hickory and Zeke stood before us.**

"**Hickory, Zeke, Oh Hunk, it's you!" I went to them.**

"**It's her!" Hunk jumped a mile as he saw Glinda.**

"**It's magic!" Zeke jumped, looking around the green palace.**

"**What did u do to us?" Hickory frightened had asked her.**

"**I granted Dorothy's wish!"**

"**Why didn't you help us when we asked you to?" Hunk stared at her. **

"**I had to give you test! Would you have gone on an adventure to see your friend again? Some people do! And some people don't. I did. **

**But, that was decades ago. This is about you, and Dorothy and some woman who resembles the Witch of the West most horribly!"**

**"Stay out of this, Glinda!" Miss Gulch reprimanded her.**

**"And how do you know my name?"**

**Miss Gulch was taken aback, how did she know her name? No one told her who Glinda was at all.**

**"Gladys?"**

**"Should I know you?"**

**"Gladys? It's, it's me. Elmira. Gladys?"**

**"Whom, are you referring to?" Glinda was a bit agitated at the site of Miss Gulch and her attitude.**

**"Gladys is my cousin! You are Gladys, aren't you?"**

**"Miss Gulch, you better be careful. Things aren't as cut and dry as they are in Kansas!" Hunk said to her.**

**"I know no one of that name! Be Gone!"**

**"Gladys!" **

**"I said, be gone!"**

**Suddenly from out of nowhere a flying monkey from high above the skylight of the Emerald City came down and swooped up Miss Gulch in one sweep and carried her away. **

**"Oh! Come back you horrid monkey! Bring Miss Gulch back!" I cried.**

**"Glinda, what did you do?" Hickory asked her.**

"**I gave that woman a taste of her own medicine. Let's see what happens to her now!"**

"**But, how can we help her now? Glinda, Good Witch of the North, let us find her and help her. Then we can find a way to get back home!" Hunk said.**

"**All you can do is wait for friends and journey to the west. You will see, my dear," Glinda had an odd look on her face with a crooked smile.**

**Glinda went back to her bubble and flew away.**

**Chapter 5 – You Are Me, Marvelous Marvel**

**"Well, what do we do now?" Hunk asked me.**

**"Dorothy, are we really in the Land of Oz?" Hickory asked, "It's not real, is it kid?"**

**"And how will we get Mean Old Gulch back?" Zeke asked.**

**"We should wait for the Scarecrow, he'll know what to do." I assured them. **

**"Dorothy this isn't like the time you and I hung a scarecrow in the cornfield. Scarecrows aren't real, are they?" Hunk asked not believing me.**

**"Neither was Oz. Oz wasn't real until you came here,! Now who's telling the truth? Come with me, all of you."**

**As I held my dog Toto, I walked my friends out to the front of the Emerald City. As we stepped out I could see my friends eyes get bigger and bigger from what they saw.**

**"What's that?" Zeke asked. I told him we were inside of the Emerald City.**

**"What's that?" Hickory asked, I told him that, that was where I fell asleep when the Wicked Witch of the West enchanted the poppy field, then Glinda the Good made the snowflakes fall to lull the scent of the poppies so we could continue on our journey to the Emerald City to get the Scarecrow a brain, the Tin Man a heart and the Lion his courage and me back home.**

**"What's that?" Hunk asked, looking down to what he saw was the end of the Yellow Brick Road that met the beginning of the Emerald City. He remembered what Glinda had told him in Munchkinland. The end of the Yellow Brick Road would lead to the where the Emerald City would be. But, he didn't want to believe it. They all still rejected the notion of an actual Land of Oz but everything pointed to the fact that there really was a beautiful land and it was real.**

"**Oh! Look! It's my friends!" Dorothy ran towards the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion.**

"**Who's that? The Lion asked the Scarecrow. All three friends saw in the distance a blue gingham dress running towards them.**

"**It's Dorothy!" The Tin Man smiled with tears of happiness, "And just in time."**

**The Scarecrow jumped gleefully, "She's in Oz! She's back! Don't you start crying again, Tin Man. Your oilcan is back inside the Emerald City! Go around the Poppy Field now."**

**I watched my special friends come closer and closer to me as I did in my dreams every night. Finally after all this time I would be able to hug the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. Oh, how I've missed them so much! Because he was so light on his feet the Scarecrow reached me first. I hugged him so close to my heart as I kissed his burlapped face, every smart move we made was because he of him.**

"**Dorothy," he said my name so lovingly, "it's so good to see you again!"**

"**Oh, Scarecrow! I missed you so much!" **

"**Lion, oh I've missed your incessant whining," I admitted to him with tears falling down my cheeks. He too was crying as he kissed my two cheeks.**

**I simply held the Tim Man in my arms in fear of ever leaving him. I missed his jointed squeaks as he walked. **

"**It's so wonderful to see you, Dorothy!" he said.**

"**Don't cry. I don't know where your oil can is!" I said to him with more tears. It felt as if they were the same tears I left them with so many months before, "I've missed you all so dreadfully!"**

"**Who? Who are they?" Tin Man asked as he looked beyond me.**

**Three men stood in shock as they saw an actual Scarecrow walk and talk, and at the site of a man made of tin. Still they were a bit confused about the lion. He stood on his hind legs and walked while he actually talked and cried to a naïve Dorothy.**

**Hunk walked up carefully to me, "Excuse me, Dorothy, d-don't you think you should be careful about talking to a l-lion?"**

"**It's alright Hunk, he found his courage, didn't you?" I said to him.**

"**I'm King of the Forest! And Oz," he foolishly admitted as Zeke walked up to him staring ridiculously.**

"**H-hey!" Zeke almost shyly continually went up to the Lion, "Glinda said you look like me!"**

"**Aren't you a bit too much like me?" the Lion sized him up and down.**

"**You aren't me, are ya?" Zeke quizzically looked at the Lion.**

"**How can I be you if you're me?"**

"**How can I be me, if I am you?"**

**Scarecrow intervened, "How can any of you be each other if the other already exists?" **

"**That's a trick question!" both answered.**

**Zeke smiled from ear to ear and laughed, "Hey, I like this guy! He's a lot like me!" He pats the Lion on his back nicely, "Ya gotta name?"**

"**Never had one, I got courage! The Wizard gave it to me personally, he's a humbug, yea," he smiled to Zeke.**

"**He gave me a heart," admitted the Tin Man.**

"**And he gave me a brain!" The Scarecrow added.**

**Zeke walked up to Hickory, "Hick, I was right. Your altar ago is made of tin! I told Glinda remember? Tin? Yeah? A heart? Come on, I'll show ya around!" Zeke was permanently in wonder and awe of the sights and people around him. He totally was in touch with his inner self to feel comfortable around them and Dorothy.**

**Hunk commented to Dorothy, "I think Zeke is has lost it! This isn't real, Dorothy? Where are we?"**

**"You're in the Emerald City," The Scarecrow said to Hunk as both Hunk and the Scarecrow did a double take.**

**"You're me!" Hunk said to him.**

**"Don't start that again!" The Tin Man said to them as he approached a conversation with Hickory, " So if the Lion is Zeke and he is the Scarecrow does that make me, you?"**

**"My name is Hickory," he smiled to the Tin Man right before he passed out to the ground, flat.**

**"Oh, Hickory!" I ran to him with all my friends behind me.**

**"Is he alright?" The Scarecrow asked.**

**"It's because he saw himself, isn't it?" the Lion said.**

**"Hickory, you've got to get up!" Hunk said as he helped him.**

**"Let me help," the Tin Man said to him. As he helped him up Hickory saw the tin figure again and fell once more to the ground in a heap.**

**"It's shock! It's shock!" Zeke pointed out. **

**Hickory mumbled to himself half sleeping, "It's a dream, it's only a dream, and it's a dream."**

**"Oh, Hickory," I held his head in my lap, "It's alright, they won't hurt you. I promise."**

**Hunk went over to talk to me, "Dorothy, Hickory has never been passed Elmira's house, that's the end of the county in Kansas. He's never been on a trip anywhere."**

**"Yea, all this is scarin' him, Zeke admitted.**

"**How do you know this?" the Scarecrow asked them.**

"**He's been our friend since we were young," Hunk said to him, "I should know! Hickory, get up!" **

"**Zeke? Hunk? Oh, Dorothy!" Hickory finally came to, "For a moment I thought I was back at home, in bed. And I dreamed I was far away." **

"**You're really far away from Kansas, Hickory. Remember Oz?"**

"**Oh, Lion, stop it. He's never been away from home, have you Hickory?" I asked him.**

**The Scarecrow spoke, "If we go back inside of the Emerald City maybe we can help you."**

"**Yes, lets!" Tin Man agreed.**

"**Come on!" Zeke lead the way back inside the Emerald City.**

**In the West of the Emerald City stood a castle. A castle that had been forgotten months ago for a wicked witch was melted and all the Winkie Guards who worked for the Witch of the West were set free, as were the flying monkeys who were also prisoners to the witch. All that was left of the Wicked Witch of the West was her hat and broom. Her broom, be as it may was mantled in the middle of the Emerald City's wall in honor of Dorothy who had killed her, alongside her friends in self-defense. **

**There a monkey who had been set free found an unlikely person down in the middle of the Emerald City. The leader of the Flying Monkeys noticed a person similar in appearance to the dead green witch. **

**Could it be? Nikko, the flying monkey thought to himself. **

**In panic to his possibility he swooped down into the clutches of the Emerald City and picked up the odd looking woman who squealed and yelled all the way as she traveled to the west. There she was dropped on a balcony of where the witch once stood. Nikko dropped her on her backside as she yelled to the monkey in fear. She stood up and shook in panic. Closer and carefully the monkey with wings watchfully approached her, peering into her eyes slowly. **

"**What do you want? Don't eat me!" she screamed to him.**

**Miss Gulch heard a voice, "So it is you, my love?"**

"**Who's that?" She heard from what had almost sounded like the wind whispering to her.**

**In the shadows she saw a figure standing. It couldn't be could it? No, it couldn't be. But, yes it was.**

"**Johnathan?" She stared back at the winged monkey then back at him.**

"**Now we can be together, and rule this land as King and Queen as it will rightly be in Oz!"**

"**How in the world did you get here? And who is this monkey?"**

"**This monkey is no fool, it knows power. My powers now."**

"**Johnathan, is it true? Can we be together? Is it so? Oh, Let it be!"**

**Johnathan Marvel went closer to Elmira, whom he loved dearly with all his heart, "My love, now that you are here, be watchful. We will live happily ever after," he kissed her lips tenderly.**

"**Oh, Johanthan. I can't believe you are here, in all places to be. That twister was horrid. And so is that Monkey!"**

"**But you got here, didn't you Mira?"**

"**But, how did you?"**

"**Aha!" with a mischievous smile Professor Johnathan Marvel uncovered his cloaked clothes to reveal his secret beneath him.**

"**I found them!" he sinfully laughed.**

**Miss Gulch looked to the floor near his feet and saw a deep red sparkling that glistened. She got down to her knees in awe to look closer and touched them.**

"**Does Dorothy know?" Elmira marveled in their beauty.**

"**Is there a truer ruler of Oz, Mira?"**

"**How do they work?"**

"**As Dorothy put it, you click the heels three times and POOF!" **

**Elmira looked up to him, "You're not a fake anymore," she sighed deeply, "You are marvelous! Marvelous Marvel," she smiled to him.**

"**Get up my love, let me show you something."**

**CHAPTER 6**


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 6

Professor Marvel motioned her to the crystal ball before her. It was real and once belonged to the Wicked Witch of the West when she ruled over the Winkie Country. No one knew it's real true power. Professor Marvel tried to make the crystal ball work but wasn't able to. Instead he found books inside of the castle hidden away inside of the Witch's lair. In them he found a deep dark secret one would need to start the crystal ball, a direct heir to the Wicked Witch of the West.

"Recite these words," he told Elmira, and she did.

"Ah May Notwa Dennbe Swene, Soctra Nahmen Ahtumie Dra Ziw Zo. Johnathan, what does this mean?"

"This will start the juices of the crystal my love!" he smiled sweetly and almost viciously to her.

Slowly, and carefully the crystal began to come alive once more. Scenes all over Oz were distorted before them inside of the ball. Now havoc would reign once more with Professor Marvel and his beloved by his side.

"What do I do? Oh my, look at this! Mylanta!" Elmira squealed, "What have I done?"

"Excellent work. But, now you should know the truth!" he smirked.

Elmira Gulch looked at him oddly, the truth? She asked herself. What could he possibly mean?

Johnathan Marval walked a simple book over to Elmira Gulch, which read Ancestry of the Thropp Family.

"Read from page 39, deary"

Elmira nearly feared to touch the book let alone read a dead woman's book. But, Johnathan deemed it safe. And she felt safe with him.

She read it aloud, "Melena Thropp, mother to Elphaba and Nessarose, Wicked Witches of the West and East had one younger sister. The youngest of 3 she rebelled. Rebelled against the family demanding and longing to see different places other than the Land of Oz. One day Nelizia packed her worldly possessions and was never heard from since."

"Read this letter, Elmira," Johnathan said solemnly to her.

Again she read aloud, " Momma, I found a good man to love and cherish me. One who has loved as poppa has to you; we are well and living near Topeka, Kansas. I recently gave birth to a little girl I named after poppa. He will always be in my heart, my love, my life, my poppa, my father Elmir. In honor of his death I named my baby girl Elmira Elizabeth after he and you. This will be my last post to you momma. I cannot be found to have communicated and crossed paths with the other side of Oz to you. Ozian authorities will persecute you and try to find me; I do not want that to happen. Little Elmira will meet you one day when the time is right. I love you, Essera. Johnathan," she whispered to him, "I'm Elmira! She's my, she was my mother? But, I can't be related to a-a witch?"

"Elmira it is in your blood. It is your destiny, your path. Your mother would have wanted you to follow your path in life. Your destiny awaits, take these magic trinkets and use them well. I hand these sparkling ruby shoes to you in trust and to use them thoughtfully. Essera would have wanted you to, as your grandmother Elizabeth, would have too. Follow your heart, Elmira. Do it for your family, for your grandfather, Elmir."

"My grandfather, my mother, my grandmother came from Oz? Johnathan, I want my family to have been proud of me. I want to follow in their steps and become one of them. What must I do?"

"Look into the crystal and find out," he told her.

Both lurked into the crystal carefully, "What do you see?"  
He asked her.

"I see Dorothy! With those farm hands and a Lion? I see a Straw Man and some silver person I can't make out, he's made of tin! Let me see this."

As the crystal ball dissolved into the new throne room where the Scarecrow Tin Man and Lion now sat beside one another next to an empty chair all the way to the left.  
"That chair is for me?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, Dorothy. If you hadn't saved me from rusting I'd still be there, as the Scarecrow would too. Still hanging on his pole, dear friend. And the Lion would still have no courage."  
"At least I do!" Zeke said to him poking fun at the Lion, "Hey Hunk, when do we wake up?"

"We already have!"

"Hey, I got my courage! What did you earn, a punch in the schnoz? Put' em up!"

"Stop it!" The Scarecrow and Hunk told them.

Hickory shook his head in shame, "Can't live with them, and can't get rid of them."

"Listen everyone you need to understand, this isn't a time to act like this. There's a new threat in Oz. One that has found Dorothy's old ruby red shoes and may stop at nothing to get what he wants!" The Tin Man told everyone.

"Who is it?" I asked them, "Can we help you?"

The Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man came over and talked to me as my friends followed.

"He came to Oz by balloon Dorothy, just like the Wizard," the Scarecrow said to them.

"But I came to Oz in the Wizard's balloon. I landed here from inside of it."

"But it was a different balloon. With Red, White and Blue covering. And he looked amazingly enough like the Wizard himself! Declaring he came from another land, named Topeka." The Tin Man exclaimed.

The Lion butted in, "And he had your ruby red shoes too!"

I just looked at Zeke, Hunk and Hickory as they looked back at me.

"Professor Marvel?" we all asked each other.

"He can't be, he helped me with my home schooling. He's a good man."

"Or a corrupt man?" Hickory said.

"But, he isn't!"

"Dorothy, face it. He's here in the Land of Oz!" Hickory panicked.

"Doing awful things to anybody and everybody!" Zeke added.

"Oh, how did he come to Oz? How did he find my ruby shoes? This can't be true! I tell you this can't be true! What do we do?"

"Don't use that tone of voice Dorothy. We're not Miss Gulch!" Hunk warned me, as I felt guilty enough for bringing them here to Oz.

Everyone thought for a moment. Then the Tin Man spoke.

"Well, last I knew the Ozian maid said she heard he now lives in the Witch of the West's castle."

"Maybe that's where the flying monkey took  
Miss Gulch!" The Scarecrow said.

"It's a start?" added Hickory.

"Come on, let's go!" the Lion encourage.

I was scared of the outcome of this adventure. But we had to be sure everything was going to be well in the Land of Oz. It wasn't like we could find our way home anyway.

"Are we going too?" Hunk asked.

"Oh, come on Hunk. I'll show you the places I've been to. Won't you all come with us? You're my friends too."

Hunk, Hickory and Zeke looked to each other then to us. We probably looked like a wild bunch of vagabonds but these were my friends whom I cared for more in the world itself. The seven of us were on our way to the Witch of the West's old castle.

In the West it was dark and dreary. I feared the Jitterbugs who came after us, but I was thankful the witch wasn't here to get us again. Our goal was to find Miss gulch then find our way back home, but how? I don't have my shiny red shoes anymore than I did when I got here. I feared I would never get them back. Whatever shall I do?

"Dorothy, how did you get to the Witch's castle the first time?" Hunk asked me.

"The flying Monkeys pulled me up and brought me to her castle. She was after my shoes and Glinda the Good told me not to give them to her, or to anyone."

"It will take forever to get there at this rate, Tin Man, don't you have any magic to help us with?" Hickory asked him.

"None, I'm not magical as one might think!"

"But, he does squeak a lot!" The Lion quipped, "Hey, lookout!" A crow softly flew overhead of us as I fell to the ground in fear.

"Are you alright Dorothy?" The Scarecrow asked me.  
I squirmed and began to stand up when something sharp hit my hand, "OUCH!"

The board moved and out from underneath the pile of dirty rubble was a sign. The very same sign, which read:

Witch's castle one mile  
I'd Turn Back If I Were You

My dog Toto hid between my ankles and clung to my socks, he too was afraid of the witch.

"Don't Worry Toto, old pal", Tin Man said to him as he gently picked him up, she's not here anymore.

"N-n-no, but he-he is!" Pointed the Lion.

"It's Professor Marvel!" Hickory exclaimed.

"Aha! I found you didn't I, my friends?" he said to us, with almost an evil grin.

"Professor Marvel, how did u get here?" Hunk asked him.

"Some sort of wind storm, I suppose? Don't you think?"

"We were dropped by accident, Professor Marvel what's wrong?" He seemed a bit ludicrous to me in a very odd way that I couldn't figure out. Ever since I came to Oz on this trip nothing has gone as expected, even my friend Professor Marvel is strange.

"Have you seen Mean Ole' Gulch?" Zeke asked.

"Hmmm, she could be at the castle of the Wicked Witch! Shall we go to her? Take a trip with me!" as he said this he began to click his pair of red ruby shoe heels three times.

"Dorothy!" Scarecrow exclaimed as he pointed to the Professor's shoes.

"The red shoes! Look!" The Tin Man yelled as they sparkled in the old dusty night air clearly. I gasped in fear and shock at the shoes that were once on my feet.

"My shoes!"

"My dear they are no longer you're shoes to be worn, according to the rules if you don't have them they don't belong to you." He clicked his heals three times, moments later all of us landed in the Witch's castle directly where the Witch of the West had been melted.

"Now I shall resurrect the cousin of your dear Miss Gulch, my pretties!"

"NO!" we yelled in fear.

"Professor Marvel, why? Why are you doing this?" I begged him.

"Wait, cousin? The Witch of the West is Miss Gulch's cousin?" Hunk asked curiously.

"Dear no, Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed

"It can't be!" The Scarecrow yelled.

"It isn't true!" The Tin Man proclaimed.

"No!" The Lion feared.

But, it was too late, three clicks of the ruby slippers later and what had been done was undone. The Witch of the West was back and fear was among us once more.

"Johnathan Marvel! Well, I never! You used me. Well, that'll teach me to never trust you ever again. Oh, how I loathe you! I thought you loved me too, I did. But, now I know the real you!"

"Miss Gulch, stop it. You don't understand, the Witch of the West is back, she's back from her watery grave," I said to her.

"I don't care," she snarled, "I don't even care that she's my own blood. This man deserves to be locked up and behind bars. He's evil."

The Scarecrow said to her, "No Miss Gulch, she's evil!" he pointed to the witch.

The Witch of the West stood there just listening to this then spoke softly and firmly, "Dorothy!"

"I didn't do it, I swear," I panicked.

The chuckling Professor Marvel smiled, "I did. You see I have what you want and we can be pals, if you want to call it that. I will be King, wait a Wizard! No, that's too cockney. I will be Emperor of all of Oz. And you will be my successor, my vizier, my assistant basically my right hand woman, Elphaba."

"I'm the Wicked Witch of the West!"

Zeke spoke, "I think she's a major b-"

"Curl your words, I'm back you imbeciles! I may take you up on your offer, but who are you? You are not the Wizard, you look like his cousin!"

"Actually they're brothers," Hunk remembered that the man at the state fair mention they were brothers.

"Brother? What do you want from me? I can hurt you! I can do many, many things to you!"

"Aha, but I hold something very dear you may need to succeed." He revealed to her the shiny, red ruby shoes from underneath his cape.

"Give them to me!" she squealed.

"Don't Johnathan! She'll kill you!" Miss Gulch said to her.

"First we do away with Dorothy, she's the one who killed me and my sister!"

"I told you I was sorry, you wicked witch, you don't believe me!"

The witch just stared at me harshly, "Be afraid my pretty, be very afraid!" she pointed.

Hunk got in front of me, "Now listen here, miss green witch, you leave my-my friend Dorothy alone, you hear? See him? My friend here the Tin Man has an axe. I – I'll make him use it!"

The cackle, which frighteningly high-pitched evil cackle of hers went right through me, I remembered her horrible laugh. It gave me chills down to my bones. I thought she was going to kill me, and now she might!

Oh my, I can't believe she's green!" Miss Gulch stared at her intently shaking her head.

The evil smiled on the Professor's face got wider.

"There's no proof I'm related to that woman! Who is she?"

"She is the last of your blood, your cousin, Elphaba."

"What does she get out of it? I still want those shoes!"

"We're on the same page, the shoes will belong to both of us! Question is how should we dispose of all of them?" he pointed to us.

"Now you leave us alone!" The Tin Man raised his axe.

"Were you gonna use that thing? Trust me, it won't stand up to the shiny, ruby shoes you left behind Dorothy dear," The professor persuaded.

"What are we gonna do?" Hickory whispered, this was all very odd to him as it was to Zeke and Hunk.

"If we had a bucket of water, you'd get it!" The Scarecrow threatened her.

"But, what will you do with me?" Professor Marvel teased them, "I think I may know!"

Professor Marvel had just begun to go off the deep end. I had never seen him like this ever before in my life. He was a friend, and mentor why would he do this? He wants to be Emperor of Oz?

"Professor Marvel why are you doing this? You're supposed to be my friend. I trusted you."

"Trust is overrated. And I have your red ruby shoes my pretty. You see it's better to seek revenge with an ally."

"Revenge?" we all gasped.

"Against who?" Asked the Scarecrow.

"Against all of you! The four of you dethroned my brother viciously! You know who you are!"

"But, let us go, we didn't hurt you Professor Marvel," Hunk said to him.

"You three already know too much, all of you must be disposed of, and quickly for that matter."

"But we didn't dethrone him, he revealed himself to us quite by accident," The Tin Man told him.

"Accident? You call letting him leave this land by balloon an accident? You are too simple minded. How the four of you did this was beyond me. You forced him out of Oz, admit the truth!"

"I did no such thing! I wanted to go home, and he was going to take me home until the ropes got loose and we couldn't get to him. Please believe me Professor, please!" I begged him.

"Am I to believe you didn't know how powerful your shoes were?" the professor turned to the wicked witch, "You can locked them all in the castle, Elphaba. The Emerald City is ours for the taking, let's be gone."

"But, Johnathan," Miss Gulch still stood shocked by all that had happened.

There were no buts. Using the shoes Professor Marvel traveled to Emerald City. The Witch of the West locked the castle with us inside. There was no possible way out.

Curiously everyone looked strangely to Miss Gulch.

"Don't look at me?"

"You're her cousin," the Lion said accusingly.

She frowned, "Don't remind me."

Chapter 7

At day break after we took a good night to sleep and put our heads together we all walked to where the witch had always kept her crystal ball, it was also the place where the witch had left me locked in her tower, ready to do away with me, and take my shoes. Now, literally the shoes were on the other foot. Miss Gulch showed us step by step on how the crystal ball worked. She read the incantation. And once again it came to life. We saw the Emerald City beginning to turn upside down by the crooked professor and greenest, meanest witch there ever was.

"What's this?" asked the Scarecrowpicking something up.

"Oh, maybe we should try that!" the Tin Man suggested.

"Wow, poppy magic!" the Lion saw the bottle of poppy seed dust, which also read: flammable

"Great, let's just blow the castle up," Zeke sarcastically said.

"I'm sorry Zeke. I'm sorry I brought you all here," I told them.

"It's not your fault Dorothy. You can blame the twister if you like?" encouraged Hunk.

"Oh, I helped the wizard, I felt I had to. But, not at the expense of his brother's revenge. This whole thing has gotten out of hand!"

"I found a spell! I did, I did!" cried the Lion.

"A spell for what?" the Scarecrow asked him.

"It says 'Projection and Conjuring' Let's project ourselves out of here!"

"I'm with you! This place gives me the creeps," Hunk said to us.

"Now let me see," started Miss Gulch, "For this to work you all need to stand here. I'll perform the spell."

"You, you're gonna perform a spell?" Zeke was afraid.

"Yes!"

"Please Miss Gulch, be careful."

"Careful? Oh, I'll get that dumb bozo if it's the last thing I do. Yea, I'll be careful not to tear him into a thousand tiny little pieces after what he did to me!" She pointed, "Stand there!" She was on the rampage. We stood motionless.

She read the words aloud "Amzo, Moza, Zoam!"

"That's it?" Hickory asked.

Suddenly, all faded around us, and instantly we were surrounded and bathed in blaring sunlight near the blue babbling brook in Munchkinland.

"Great, we're back to where we started!" Zeke said to everyone sarcastically.

"An army of little people-again?" smiled Hickory.

"They're my friends, oh, maybe they will help us. Glinda! Oh, Glinda! It's me, Dorothy Gale. I have come back to you. Oh, can't you help us? Please?  
The Wicked Witch of the West is after us. She and the Emperor of Oz aim to hurt us dreadfully!"

"Miss Dorothy, you need to go away!" a small voice was heard.

"She'll come and get you too! Leave us in peace, or she'll hurt you!" another voice was heard,"

"She will come back!" yet another voice was heard.

"Oh we must stand up to them!" I turned to my friends, "I don't know how, but we must!" When I turned around again I noticed my old house standing before me, "Oh, it's my home! How good it is to see it again."

"We saw it; now what do we do?" the Lion asked.

"Well, we need for them to come out! We need people to fight her!" Miss Gulch demanded.

"There's one tiny thing you don't know Miss Gulch."

"What is it Dorothy?"

"They are Munchkins."

"A what? Wait, can ya eat them?"

"No, no. They are little people no higher than my elbows."

"How do they fight?"

"They hide when the witch comes if I remember correctly," I blushed.

"You brought me to them? That's a good technique, I'll be sure to use it the next time that witch is chasing me down this yellow path!" She pointed. "Yellow path? Dorothy, where are we now?"

"It's called Munchkinland. Hickory, Zeke and I landed here in the pond," Hunk nodded.

"Well, I never! Will wonders ever cease? Now, don't tell me, you three all live here too right?" She pointed to the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion; "This place is really getting stranger by the minute."

"I think you're strange lookin' why won't you let your nose show you the way around the neighborhood!" the Lion laughed back.

"Lion, be nice to Miss Gulch! She's never been here before. She never knew there even was a Land of Oz."

"So that's what you call this place nowadays."

"Miss Gulch please, we need to find Professor Marvel and give the Scarecrow back his throne if it's the last thing we do!"

"I could care less about that man," she quipped.

Hunk saw the look in her eyes, "For what it's worth Miss Gulch I know that's not true. You loved him, didn't you?"

"I did no such thing, how dare you accuse me of such!" she turned her back to us so we wouldn't see the hurt and truth in her eyes.

Right now she needed us, more than we needed to expose the witch or reveal Professor Marvel for who they really were.

"Miss Gulch, if you'll only open your heart you will see that we can be here for you. We want to be your friends," I said to her.

"That's not true either," she said to me, "You called me a wicked witch. Apparently now I am related to one from this horrible dreadful place! Maybe I should just follow my calling, if it was meant to be."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. But, you wanted to take my dog, Toto away from me and neither he nor I did anything to hurt you, and you know that. He never bit your leg. I don't know why you've always been so mean to me? Aunt Em always tried to stick up for me but you always found a way to shine over her too, and get your way. I only want to be a friend. I don't want anything else but for you to be my friend. Why won't you? Please tell me what I did wrong? What did I do to make you hurt so much inside? This isn't Kansas anymore. The tables have turned and you can be a good person to all of us as we all can be to you. What did I do that was so wrong?"

"You remind me of your father," she started, "How soft and gentle a man he was. He was what a decent man should have been! It was a shame he left this world so early. I'm proud to say that I loved him. He was my only heir and I loved my nephew dearly, as much as if he were my son! I'll never forget him. He was my life, my reason for living. My sister was already gone. My fiancé died in the same fire that your father and mother had perished in. I blamed you for looking like him; his features were strong in you, of your father. Every time I turned around there you were, the image of Magregger, my darling nephew before my eyes, there you were. So, I gave you to your mother's sister Emily. I knew she would give you a nice, decent home. My world came to a halt, a shattering halt. Realizing everyone I ever loved died. I couldn't bear to see any of that could happen to you too. I didn't want to ever see that." She turned and looked to me face to face, "So, I wound up being very bitter, mean, and, and alone! It got so bad I blamed your dog to spite the vengefulness in my heart I had for you. Because you reminded me so much of him! I could ask you to forgive me. But, I won't! Too much of a woman I am to execute such tomfoolery. I made my bed and I'll lie in it. I can't change! I can't! You don't know-"

I felt awful then for the heart of Miss Gulch. I did what was right for me to do in my heart. I went to the woman and for the first time, I hugged her. I hugged her because I loved her. I cared. I'm not mean, or spiteful or anything she said she was. I forgave. And I knew that she needed that. I hugged Miss Gulch, who in fact was my great aunt!

Suddenly, a vision from above blurred everyone's eyes. What I saw was another pink, round bubble heading this way once more. Glinda was on her way to us, probably to let us know more about Professor Marvel and the Witch of the West.

"I wonder what Glinda is going to say about all of this?" Hunk asked the Scarecrow.

"I don't know, but we have to find a way to stop her and the new Emperor of Oz."

"He's not an Emperor, or a King. He's evil, and we need to stop him," the Tin Man said to everyone, and everyone did agree.

Glinda's bubble was on land and she had emerged from it, approaching us.

"Dorothy? May I speak with you, my dear?"

I went up to Glinda and spoke to her, "Yes, we've been through so much already."

"Tell me, how can I assist you? Such dreadfulness is happening here in Oz."

" A friend of mine from Kansas. Professor Marvel found a way to get to Oz and stole my red, ruby shoes. He forced Miss Gulch to recite an incan-can" I stumbled on the words.

"A spell!" Miss Gulch stated, "It was my fault to blame."

"No, Professor Marvel used the ruby shoes and brought the Wicked Witch of the West back to help him rule Oz as Emperor. Miss Gulch's spell brought us out of the locked castle in the West, here to Munchkinland. Miss Gulch did a good thing," the Scarecrow told her.

She thought for a moment and spoke, "Seems to me you need a place to rest for now and plan a course of action. You should stay out of their way I suppose."

"Glinda, how can we do that? They will overthrow everyone in Oz!" The Tin Man said to her.

"All in good time," she smiled, "Just be sure to bide your time well. This seems to be worse than when the Wizard first came to Oz," Glinda told us.

"How so?" Hunk asked.

"He wasn't a wizard, he lied to the citizens of Oz and the Emerald City. This time the Wicked Witch is involved!"

"Involved with an issue from the Emerald City? But she is green! Didn't she come from the Emerald City?" Hickory asked.

"She came from Munchkinland, another part of this land is sectioned off for farmland. But she grew up in the Quadling Country. She isn't from the Emerald City at all!" Glinda told us.

"Glinda, what do we do?" I asked her.

"Lay low for now, we need a plan that works well. Well enough to dethrone him and get her back to where Dorothy put her once before!"

"You never like that woman, did you Glinda?" Miss Gulch asked her point blank.

"Actually she used to be my friend, mybest friend. But, it was decades ago! Before she became the Wicked Witch of the West I suppose."

"Well on behalf of my blood, I am sorry. There's not much I can do to help you," Miss Gulch said to her.

"Blood?"

"Miss Gulch is the Witch of the West's cousin," the Lion said to her.

"What a smell of sulfur!" she changed the subject quickly, "Hmm, well I suggest the Munchkins keep you here in Munchkinland and hide you well for now. I shall help you try to find a way out of this mess, Dorothy, and your friends too!"

"Thank you," she motioned for a Munchkin to help us, "They will help you."

"T.T.F.N!"

"T.T.F.N?" I asked them.

"Ta Ta For Now!" Mocked the Lion gaily.

Time had passed in Oz as it had in Kansas. I missed my aunt and uncle a lot but I couldn't leave all of my friends and go back even if I was able to I couldn't leave Oz in disarray. The Witch searched for us daily and nightly. No one breathed a word to where we were. My poor friends weren't used to being cooped in tiny, small houses. Zeke's small feet dangled off of a chair as he slept nights. The Tin Man kept guard at dusk since he held his axe, but he wasn't able to stand inside of the hut. The munchkin farmer made a taller porch for him in the morning. The Scarecrow and Hunk went to pick berries so I could help make pies for us to eat. Poor Lion plowed the field's everyday for an hour to keep busy. But Zeke was no help. He stared out the window petrified of being found out every day.

"This is it isn't?" he'd ask, "We're gonna die! Their gonna find us! We're dead! I believe it. I do, I do, I do, I do, I do!"

Kansas was in just as bad shape as it was here. We did live in fear to be found out everyday in Munchkinland. In Kansas things turned differently than planned. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry had gone through a lot without me. Things were going haywire in Kansas without me.

Chapter 8 ~ Frank and Mira

My aunt was thinking about me as she sat in her chair. Uncle Henry stood pacing the floor up and down.

"Well, what can we do, Em? The dern twister took everyone away from us!" he frowned to her as he scratched his newly grown small beard strands.

"It shouldn't have taken our Dorothy! Not her! She's our glue. Not Dorothy! Henry, how can we even go on with the farm without her? Hunk is gone! And Hickory, well let's not go there! Even Almira Gulch, oh that woman!"

"What do you want, Em? She was Dorothy's aunt too!"

"Dorothy never had to know about that! Dorothy had us, we loved her," she kept crying, "I miss Hunk, and Hickory too!"

"Zeke was always good with the chickens," Henry obliged.

"Oh, Zeke was useless!" she cried harder into her wet tissues.

"Now Em," he tried to console her.

"Dorothy was the heart of our family!" Em wiped her wet, runny nose, "Henry, we need her!"

"Wipe your tears, Emily. Dorothy, well she's here. She'll always be with us. We loved her as our own."

"I just can't believe she is gone, everybody is just gone! Even the neighbors Harry and Artie Turnblatt, their home, their house are ruined! Almira's house is also gone too!"

"The Turnblatt brothers and Hunk, Hickory and Zeke are with Dorothy. We have to believe that. Our Dorothy is in a special place now."

"Not at that damn tornado's expense! It's always the twister's fault! We lost her the first time, we thought so for sure, but we found her and she survived! This time it literally took her away from us along with Almira and our farmhands!"

Henry sat across from his wife with a forlorn look on her face as he looked at her intently, "It's tornado season, Emily. And tomorrow the bank forecloses on the house and our farm. Can't believe Gulch's cousin is getting our farm, it's what they always wanted. They always wanted what he had. Now they have the last laugh!" He chuckled at the thought.

"Stop laughing! Tomorrow we leave for my sister's farm in Wichita!

"Your sister Liza is a witch!" Henry snarled, agitated.

"Stop talking about my sister! She's helping us."

"Don't remind me," he gruntled

A silence completed the still moment.

"I can hear the branches scrape against the house. You forgot to trim them again," she whispered barely able to talk.

"I was sidetracked today. This morning's tornado wiped out Almira's house. Nothing is left, Emily no one can find her. As if she vanished just like Dorothy. I'm wiped," he sighed as he heard a light howling of the breezy, airy wind with more force pushed against the shutters.

"What in the world is happening?"

Henry thought she was referring to the weather but, in fact she was thinking about their future.

"Another twister!" Henry sprang to his feet and looked out of the window more intently.

"No!"

"Emily, look! Get into the storm cellar quick!"

"No, I won't let it take this house! It took our friends, that tornado took Dorothy! I will not let it take this house, you nor me! I won't! Do you hear me? I won't!"

"Em, Now! The Cellar, Go!" he yelled to her.

"Take your hands off me!"

The winds picked up ever more so fierce and ferociously. B ranches kept hitting the side of the house.

"Do you want to meet Dorothy's fate? We need to get into that srorm cellar!" he grabbed his wife's hand and ran to the back door.

Emily stalled for more time, "Henry wait! My mother's pearls, I can't lose them!" Em thought of anything to keep herself inside the house. Her own thought ran rampant.

"Em!" he called for her.

"I promised my mother!

"We'll find them tomorrow! Let's go!"

"If this tornado takes this house my mother's pearls will be lost forever, Just like Dorothy!" She threw his hands away ands went back into the house.

"Emily, get back here!"

Faster and faster the tornado decidedly was gaining a lot of power and strength, possible even as strong as the one that brought Dorothy and her friends over to Oz.

"Em it's getting closer we gotta get to the storm cellar," Henry hollered but found himself chasing after his frantic wife. "Emily!" He called for her again.

Em found herself searching for her mother's pearls on an old dresser, "Were are they? Henry where did u put them? Henry!"

"Emily!" He yelled back at her, "It's here! We wasted too much time, get on this bed, and don't move a muscle!"

"We're gonna die!" She screamed.

Out of the bedroom window one could see the tornado rip through the ground and sky before them gaining power as it twisted and turned.

"What do we do?"

"Hold you legs together and kiss your rear end goodbye!"

Em stared at the dresser where a picture of Dorothy stood staring back at them. She wondered if they would survive this twister of fate. The house rattled and shook tremendously. Branches broke windows. There was nothing left of the farm except the house, Henry and Emily.

"Henry," she turned to him, "I'll miss you, you should know I love you!"

"I do love you, Emily!" both shouted to be heard to one another as he took her hand.

Strangely, a moment of panic struck both of them. The felt the house rip off the ground and rise off its foundation higher and higher into the tornado they went as it went around in circles. The house tipped and turned, dipped and fell countless times. Further and further the winds took the floating house. Farther away she and her husband flew. What no one knew was that the house had a destination.

"We're in the Twister, Em!"

Emily prayed for her life and a soft landing. The winds around the house bellowed and howled all around them. Both were scared for their lives.

On the other side of the rainbow the Wicked Witch of the West was taking matters finally in her own hand. As she flew over to Munchkinland her own thoughts ran rampant. She was determined to conquer Munchkinland. Unknowingly, she didn't know my friends and I would also be defending our rights as well. Miss Gulch may have gotten us out of the castle but to save Oz we need Professor Marvel to come back to his senses and reality.

"Could he have lost his marbles?" The Scarecrow asked us.

"Look's like he didn't have any marbles to begin with!" Zeke started.

"Stop it, our theories aren't working at all. Our plans backfired. Oh Scarecrow what are we gonna do?" I asked him.

Back in the Emerald City the Witch of the West seized control, "I work alone!" She scolded the bound and gagged Professor Marvel, "Did you think you were going to be able to fool me? I don't think so you humbug of a man!"

He was barely able to speak, "I am not a humbug!"

The citizens were once again filled with fear against the witch of the west, finally the Emerald City was her domain and Munchkinland was next on her list.

"You fool! I finally get what I have wanted and you are not taking it away from me now!"

The poor Professor Marvel looked pathetic bound up and gagged. But, still even she witch knew he needed to be stopped but, not by her evil, vengeful expense. The citizens of the Emerald City feared her greatly. She was on her way to Munchkinland in full speed!

Soon, clouds of smoke and fear suddenly filled the sky above us and settled down into the heart of Munchkinland once more.

"Dorothy, she has the shoes!" The Tin Man pointed.

"It's the Wicked Witch!" Hickory panicked, "Help!"

The Witch casually walked over to me as I held my guard. No we didn't have a plan to capture her or melt her again, we were trapped.

She spoke in her cackled voice once more, "What are you doing out of the castle? I locked you all inside!"

"You underestimated the power of your blood, Elphaba. I am your cousin, don't you remember?" Miss Gulch scolded her.

"That is no longer my name . . . I am a witch and powerful one now! I have my sister's shoes! And I can conquer you all now, as I like! Can you imagine what I am going to do to you? And Dorothy, you deserve the best promotion of them all!"

"Promotion?" Hunk asked.

"I'll watch you kill, everyone! I have the shoes, I can do, as I like, I have friends in high places." She smirked. "And Glinda isn't here to stop me either!"

"We didn't do anything to you!" Zeke attempted to stop her from acting out.

"You!" She pointed to him; "You're a pathetic excuse for a man or a Lion. You belong in a cage!"

A cage is exactly what encased him moments later by the shoes.

"What do we do?" Hunk asked.

"Stall her?" motioned the Lion.

"What do you say Scarecrow, should I keep my promise to you? I'll stuff a mattress with you soon enough!"

Three clicks of her heels later she kept to her word. The Scarecrow was tucked away inside of a blue mattress.

"Bring him back, you wicked witch!" I stood up to her finally.

"Maybe I should do to you what you did to me? But, that won't matter much at all. You won't vanquish in plain water! So, maybe I should drop a house on you!"

"No!" Everybody yelled to her but it was a bit too late indeed.

A house truthfully, and actually started falling from the sky, over my head and yes, dear me I was next! But, the witch hadn't clicked her red heels three times! I watched it get closer and closer as it fell, I ran and ran but it seemed as if it were following me, but it couldn't have been. And just when I reached the porch of my old brown house the Wicked Witch stood before me and sucked me back under it's path of destruction. But it was to late. My instincts were sharp. I lunged for the green witch, threw her underneath the new falling house and leaped into my old house fearlessly. The crash was just as loud and echoed the similarities of my first landing her in Munchkinland. Toto was still at me feet. Did I dare step outside? I breathed a sigh, still realizing I was alive after all this, I smiled. And pet my small dog. I was relieved. But, sounds from outside stopped my solemn moment.

"Dorothy, are you in there?" The  
Tin Man asked as he came near the broken window of my old house.

"Are you alright?" The Scarecrow asked me.

"Ya gotta see it!" The Lion said as he stared pointing.

Slowly, I came out of my old home; only to see my new home had landed on top of the Wicked Witch of the West! Who appeared from inside of the other house was quite a shock to my eyes. I rubbed them once, then twice. It was real I knew it would be. And it was. Aunt Em walked out of the house along side Uncle Henry!

"Henry, where are we?"

"Aunt Em! It's me! Oh, Aunt Em! Uncle Henry!" I ran to them with open arms and hugged them both and held tight for dear life with Toto by my feet. How I missed them both, I thought I would never see them again.

"Dorothy, where are we? Oh my I can't believe you're alive! Oh, my dear how we've missed you! Where are we?"

"We thought you were dead," Uncle Henry said to me with tears in his eyes.

"I'm not. But there is something I have to show you." Both my aunt and uncle followed me off the fallen porch into a new world. Their eyes grew wider and fonder with every sight. I knew they believed in me now!

"Where are we?" my uncle asked.

"In the Land of Oz, in Munchkinland," Hunk said to them with a twinkling smile.

"Hunk? What are ya doin' here?" Uncle Henry asked.

"We landed in Munchkinland," Hunk said to him.

"A what? Can ya eat it?"

"No, they're little people. And some are farmers like us!"

"Dorothy, how are we gonna get back? Oh my heavens! What happened? We killed her? Who is she? My, Oh My!"

"She was the Wicked Witch of the West, and you killed her almost killing me too. But, you did a good thing Aunt Em. She was horrible to everyone. And look her magic has been undone! Zeke!"

Zeke ran to me, "I thought you were a goner, Dorothy! I thought that house was gonna get me too!"

My aunt and uncle were stunned to see Hunk, Zeke and Hickory in the Land of Oz, let alone at all. Both of them believed we were all dead.

"Dorothy, are you sure we're not dead?" my uncle asked me.

"Sure I'm sure. So sure I am taking what rightfully was given to me in the first place," I took the red shoes and put them back on my feet. Then recited these words:

"I want what changed by the Wicked Witch of the West and Professor Marvel to go back to the way it was. And I want Professor Marvel to be revealed here in Munchkinland for the humbug he truly is!" Three clicks of my heels later all was well on its way to a speedy recovery.

All of this shocked and amazed my aunt and uncle. Never did they ever see such a place like Oz. And quite beautiful it was. Everything was back to where it had belonged, and still as beautiful as ever here in the Land of Oz. Munchkinland still had my heart, as pretty as it was. Only thing was now there was 2 houses from Kansas stuck in this quaint Land.

"Dorothy, is it safe to come out now?" the Cowardly Lion asked. I had noticed my friends had gone into hiding to get away from my aunt and uncle.

"It's ok lion," said to him around the corner.

"Lion?" Aunt Em quivered.

"No, Aunt Em he was a Cowardly Lion. And after I killed the witch last time the Wizard granted his wish."

The Lion slowly came out of hiding as did the Tin Man and the Scarecrow."

"Emily!" Uncle Henry was spooked.

I laughed so dreadfully hard, "Oh, Uncle Henry that's my friend the Scarecrow and King of the Land of Oz. Here's the Tin Man!" I smiled.

"He's got an axe! Look out!"

"I won't hurt you. Dorothy's my friend. I love her. We all do," he smiled to me.

"Are ya kiddin' me?" Uncle Henry watched the Tin Man begin to cry.

"You know your oil can is inside of the Emerald City!" The Scarecrow said to him.

"I know, it's just, well. We did it again. We helped Dorothy save Oz from the witch. Now she can go home," the Tin Man said to us.

"Not if I had anything to do with it!" Professor Marvel snarled back, "Give me those shoes! The Witch! Emily? Henry? What happened?"

I sighed to the man, "Do you honestly think that I will do that, Professor? I don't know what happened but I won't allow you to hurt anyone ever again! I have the shoes. Yes, the witch is dead, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry killed her!"

"What's that? Hickory pointed to the sky.

"It's Glinda!" the Scarecrow proclaimed.

"No wait, it's somebody else!" Zeke yelled from the other direction.

"Someone else? But, who?" Too many people were dropping from the sky.

"It's the Wizard!" the Tin Man exclaimed.

"It can't be!" I declared.

"This place is getting stranger and stranger," Uncle Henry said to me.

"It's alright Uncle Henry I know him very well. He gave my friends what they wanted when we went to see him in the Emerald City!"

"There's a city made entirely of green?" Aunt Em asked still not believing me staring at the sky above us.

Glinda came down one more time from her shiny, pink bubble to greet my family. And waited for the Wizard in his new balloon to arrive here in Munchkinland.

"She's beautiful!" Uncle Henry declared.

"Dorothy, you killed the Witch of the West again."

"No, I didn't. My aunt and uncle did this time!" I smiled.

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry bowed low to her.

"Are you a witch?" Aunt Em asked her.

"Yes, I am Glinda the Good Witch of the North! And here's your house, and there you are, and that is what is left of the witch of the west," she suddenly said sadly.

As the balloon landed in Munchkinland Glinda walked over to the replica of my second home to where the Wicked Witch of the West's feet were sticking out.

"My dear Elphie. You will be missed as a friend. Be well in the nether world with your sister and family. No one cries for evil to prevail, you and your sister needed to be taught a lesson. I brought Dorothy's house here. I brought her Aunt and Uncle here too. Now there will be no evil in Oz anymore. Dorothy has the shoes and hopefully she shall remain."

"Well, well I see my return is welcomed!" Proclaimed the once Wizard.

"It's the Wizard! It's the Wizard of Oz!" the Munchkins squealed as they all ran from their houses to the quaint man who's balloon landed on the out skirts of Munchkinland.

It was wonderful to see him again, face to face. My aunt and uncle awkwardly walked to the Wizard. But, stopped dead on their feet at the site of Miss Gulch hobnobbing with the Munchkins gaily, and happily and with a very rare smile on her face.

"Almira!" Aunt Em scolded.

"Yes?" she looked to them, "Oh no, the fall from the balloon was scary enough, and I fell into a pool of boiling hot water too!" She was talking and looked to the Munchkins as my aunt couldn't believe who was before her eyes.

"Hold on for a moment, I have to go see my friend," Miss Gulch smiled to the pretty little groups of people before her.

"Hello, Emily, Henry."

"I do not believe we are friends, Almira. You were never any friend of mine!"

"Emily!" Henry scolded her.

"Well, it is true. You scared Dorothy to run away the first time and we nearly lost her. The second time you end up in a run away balloon! And least of all we find you here."

"Now I'm willing to forgive and forget!" Miss Gulch told her, "And be as it may I'd rather be known as Aunt Almira to Dorothy. She is my neice!"

"Since when?" Henry was quite skeptical.

"Since I talked to her! This place has a very spiritual likeness. It's quite nice isn't it?" she glowed, "Isn't Munchkinland beautiful?" Miss Gulch couldn't stoop smiling, "And Johnathan Marvel isn't Emperor of all evil anymore!"

"What?" My aunt and uncle asked her.

"He used Dorothy's old, red, ruby shoes to conquer the Land of Oz! You see they are magical, and have powers. From what I understand Dorothy used them to get back home last time and they were lost. But, when Johnathan flew his balloon here he found them and used them to take over this sweet, nice land. But Dorothy has them now. Oh Emily I am so, very sorry for everything I ever put you through. Can you find it in my heart to forgive my evil witch ways? I'm better now. And I know that I do feel not a cross as I once was. I'm good. I really am."

"Good?" Aunt Em looked crazily over to her as if Almira Gulch wasn't acting real. My aunt knew the true real Almira Gulch to be ruthless and heartless and to be well, a witch! She asked forgiveness.

My aunt and uncle looked at each other for a moment.

Miss Gulch spoke again, "My nephew Magregger and Dorothy would want it that way. You're her mother's sister Emily. We are family."

"Here, here! What's this I see?" The Wizard exclaimed to us.

My aunt put down her guard, "If it is what you want Almira. It is time to put an end to this silliness. Can we be friends?"

"Only if you want to," she said to her.

"Oh, Mr. Wizard!" I called to him as my friends and all the Munchkins ran to him.

Both women gave in. Aunt Em and Miss Gulch went towards each other and hugged one another, as old friends would have done. It was nice to see them finally getting along, and I was glad. I had my family and was completely happy for the first time in a long time.

"Frank? Frank, my dear brother from another mother!" Jonathan Marvel went up to him.

"Brother?" The Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion stared at them. They looked very much alike.

"Our mother remarried and had me." The Wizard told us.

"What are you doing here in Oz? Of all places to find you!" Johnathan said to him.

"Word had it you got lost in a storm. A twister, as Dorothy's Uncle would put it. Here I am. To save you!"

"I think it's a little too late!" The Scarecrow said to him.

"Why?" He asked curiously.

"Because Dorothy's aunt and uncle killed the wicked witch of the west and she already took back the red shoes back from him and the witch. Oz is free once again!" The Scarecrow told him.

"Hail to Dorothy, Aunt Em and her Uncle Henry! That nasty old witch is dead once again!" Glinda declared proudly.

Everybody cheered tremendously.

"Frank, do I have to save you from yourself again? You always get into trouble and I have to save you! It's always been that way hasn't it? Has it, Frank?" Jonathan asked his brother, covering up his mistake of conquering Oz.

"Frank?" Everyone asked, we never knew the Wizard's name before.

"I believe it is the other way around dear brother! You always had the knack of reversing whatever was going to your benefit. Well, well, I don't. Dorothy, what shall we do with him?"

"Send him to Kansas Dorothy, where he belongs, a one way ticket home!" the Lion gave him an evil eye.

"And stay there!" Zeke agreed.

"It's his brother!" Miss Gulch intervened, "I learned to stop and forgive myself, and am sorry for the wrong I've done. Emily Gale is my friend. How about you Johnathan? Are you willing to befriend and change? Are you? There's still time. If you're going to change any time, Oz is the time and place to do it! This isn't child's play anymore. The Witch of the West got her demise, and she deserved it! Do you want that to happen to you? Well, do you?"

"No! No. All right, ok. I decree to be a better person and brother to all before me. Dorothy, will you and your friends ever forgive me? I am sorry for my wrongs. I feel the need to become a better person. If your Aunt and Almira can find it in their heart to forgive will you and your friends forgive me?"

I looked to Hunk, Hickory and Zeke who all seemed to oblige to do so. I then cast my eyes to The Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion. They too nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Professor Marvel. We forgive you." I smiled to him.

"Thank you my dear."

"Dorothy?" a small voice was heard, a woman Munchkin with a flower pot on her head came up to me alongside the green Munchkin from the Lollipop Guild, "Will you live here in Oz with us in Munchkinland? You and your family have saved once again. How can we repay you?"

The green Munchkin spoke to me too, "Please stay in Oz, we would love for you to stay here with your family!" the sweet voiced little people asked me.

"Actually, there isn't much of a home to go back to," Uncle Henry told us, "The last twiser, the tornado ripped everything right out of the ground. The bank foreclosed on the house and Gulch's cousin seized control of our assets. There's nothing left Kansas Dorothy. What we have is here, our friends and family and you!" he pointed jokingly to Miss Gulch.

"What do you mean?" I asked him not understanding what he meant.

"You have two houses, my dear. You can live here!"

"And we can help you fix them up!" the flowerpot woman said to her as they all jumped for joy!

"Oh, Dorothy what do you say?" The Tin Man cried finally tears of happiness.

"You won't have to leave us after all!" The Scarecrow declared.

"Yeah! And we will never be that far away from ya ever again!" The Lion agreed.

I was so happy, my family and friends were all going to be happy and live in Oz!

"I too will stay, Dorothy. I can't leave this place. It's a wonderful place to never want to leave." Miss Gulch agreed.

"Really?" I asked her.

She nodded, smiling, which I never saw her ever do.

But, I looked over to the faces of my other friends Hunk, Zeke and Hickory.

"You know we have to go home Dorothy," Hunk said to me as he walked up to me.

"It wouldn't be the same if we stayed here. I got my girlfriend back in Topeka; but you'll always be my girl. You're a friend we'll never forget, I can tell you that," Hickory told me.

"No," I tried to stop them.

"We don't belong here Dorothy," Zeke agreed.

"I'll never forget any of you!" I softly cried realizing I had to let them go and live their lives back in Kansas regardless of what I wanted.

"Are you sure it is what you want? We can live here, all of us. And we can be happy."

I saw the look in their faces. And I knew there was no place like home, and that was where they wanted to go.

The flowerpot woman told them, "We'll name our new babies after you!"

I chuckled and cried at the same time, "I'll Miss you Hickory. I knew I could always talk to you. Take care, now."

"I'll remember Oz, and how much you meant to me," he softly said to me as he hugged me.

I walked to over to Zeke, "You always had a way with the chickens. Uncle Henry always said so! You will always mean a lot to me, Zeke, goodbye," I was so very sad I had to give up my friends for my family. I kept crying, it hurt so much to lose them. It felt like I had lost the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion all over again!

Hunk walked over to me, "Dorothy," he hugged me close and whispered in my ear, "You're my best friend. Hickory has nothing on you! You're special to me."

"I love you," I whispered back, "I'll never forget you, Hunk. I'll miss you."

Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion and Miss Gulch too alongside Professor Marvel and the Wizard said their goodbyes.

"Are you ready?" Glinda asked them.

They nodded yes. She told them to close their eyes, "Dorothy, you know what to do." She stepped back.

"Think of home, and how there's no place like it," I told them, "Relax, remember Topeka, Kansas."

I clicked my heels three times.

In an instant my three friends were gone and I missed them terribly. The Scarecrow came up to me and hugged me softly.

"It will be alright," he looked into my eyes. At least I still had him the Tin Man and the Lion.

"Miss Glinda?" started the Wizard, "Would you be able to find it in your heart accept my brother and I into Oz? Not as Wizards mind you but as citizens among your people?"

"But who will govern us in the Emerald City?" The flowerpot woman asked her friends.

"Dorothy will!" The Mayor pronounced. "She will be Queen Dorothy of Oz! And spend summers in Munchkinland!"

"With her Aunts and Uncle too!" the flowerpot woman added, she was a sweet person.

It was quite an honor to be suggested as Queen but could I do it?

"I shouldn't," I told them.

"But you will, along side me the Tin Man and the Lion!" The Scarecrow agreed.

"Really? Are you positive?"

"My niece, Queen!" Aunt Em exclaimed to Miss Gulch.

"And Miss Gulch, I want you to be my assistant!"

"Auntie Mira, you can call me that if you like, Dorothy. It would make me feel better. You want me to be your personal assistant? I don't think I can do that. Shouldn't you ask your aunt and uncle?"

"They're farming people and they will love it here in Munchkinland, and I can see them anytime I want!"

Glinda thought about her offer, "I have an idea! Both of you will live in the witches castle. Clean it, and fix anything that is necessary. Dorothy and her friends will help your from there."

And I had the perfect task for them too, "Yes, will the both of you govern the Winkies in the West for us? We shall like your help keeping Oz safe for all." I smiled to them and my friends and family. Finally, I found it in myself where home really was. Home was in Oz, always, now and forever we would be over the rainbow.

THE END


End file.
